Poetry and Prose
Michael’s love of writing began in his teens when he found personal healing in journaling and writing poetry. He went on to publish and present numerous papers nationally and internationally on the role creativity and spirituality play in the healing process. He is the author of Horns and Halos (1992), Ever Flowing On (2001), Moments (2008), Peace Within (2016), and his second book of poetry When All Is Lost (2020). He is currently working on Souling: Birthing, Weaving and Tending a Soulful Life due out in 2022.
As a playwright, Michael’s first full length play, Café Mezzo opened to rave reviews in 2007 and was chosen as the best play of the year for the Loblolly Theatre. His second full length play, co-written with Stephen Lott, Siyotanka also opened to exceptional reviews and garnered 7 Crystal Awards including Michael receiving a Crystal Award for his original musical score and live performance of the soundtrack. Michael and Stephen went on to collaborate on another full length play The Maiden of Stonehenge that had its world premiere in 2012. Both sounds tracks reached #1 on the ZMR chart and won multiple awards including Siyotanka winning a Native American Music Award, a ZMR Award and became Michael’s first Grammy® nomination. The Maiden of Stonehenge went on to win Best World Music Album of 2013.
He has also written and directed three short films and is working on a number of full length screenplays in development at the present time.
When All Is Lost
In DeMaria’s second book of poems, he documents a particularly painful and transformative decade in his life. From hurricane Ivan in 2004 that devastated his personal and professional life, to the death of his mother in 2015, he courageously explores the emotional darkness that visits all of us at one time or another. These poems arose as guidance for his soul, as if spoken by the deeper and wiser part of himself, that he is convinced we all have. The soul actually often speaks from within during our darkest times, when all appears lost. These poems are signals through the flame of living and dying, revealing how we can find heart in the deepest darkness of life by allowing the suffering to polish and transform us into a more authentic version of ourselves.
Peace Within: Clear Your Mind, Open Your Heart, Embrace Your Soul and Heal Your Life
Peace Within is Dr. DeMaria's 4th book and the distillation of his 35 years of helping guide others on their life journeys. This book is an accessible, practical, and highly engaging guide to awakening. Broken down into 10 modules Dr. DeMaria gives you the tools to create your own personal retreat in the comfort of your own home, that you can do at your own pace and in your own time.
Moments: Healing Poems for the Journey Home
"Honest, accessible, and real, these poems by Michael DeMaria chart the universal human quest for meaning and calling in words that settle comfortably on the mind, sweetly on the heart. I am drawn to the earnestness and vulnerability in this man's work. These are poems of encouragement, hope, and simple authenticity fine poems for any life, any journey." —Susan Chernak McElroy, Bestselling Author Animals as Teachers and Healers
Ever Flowing On: On Being and Becoming Oneself
Ever Flowing On: On Being and Becoming Oneself distills the essential core elements of the life journey into a four-fold path of personal growth; The Source, The Abyss, The Quest, and The Dance. Ultimately, it is a faithful guide book for the life journey. It takes the reader on an adventure of self-discovery, providing compassionate and wise counsel on how to find your way back to the simple miracle of living while discovering a renewed affection for your life. Ever Flowing On provides the path towards feeling good about the miracle of life and being who you are instead of trying to be something you are not.
Horns and Halos: Towards the Blessing of Darkness (The Reshaping of Psychoanalysis)
This book explores the roots of human hatred which emerges from the soil of intimacy. Michael DeMaria, in the process of revealing traditional psychology's failure to articulate a meaningful understanding of human emotion and, in particular, hate, moves towards an existential phenomenological description of hating in intimacy. He fleshes out this description with a case study that shows the paralyzing effects of self-hate. Finally, by pulling together findings in philosophy, anthropology and feminism, DeMaria opens the door to a new vision of human becoming and a psychology of good and evil.